The Cottage Smallholder

It's a cliché, it's cheesey, it's in many ways arbitrary. Generally I don't really do new year's resolutions, partly because I have tended not to keep them in the past and don't like to set myself up for failure if I can at all help it,and partly because everyone else is doing it and I'ma big contrarian at heart.

Last year I decided to give up smoking. It took me all year to get it right, but by December 31st I was there.

This year so far i've not exactly resolved anything, at least nothing specific, measurable, achievable, or whatever the R and T in SMART are supposed to stand for.

But i crazily got it intomy head that it would be nice to start the new year with a tidy house. This was a mostly unilateral decision, but to his credit the Jelfs has got behind it to the extent that he got out of my way when I was bustling and didn't call me away at all to act as extra hands when he as playing with the buggy. We were away for Christmas, got home on the 27th and spent two days making last minute preparations for the second Christmas with my family which started on the 29th and ran til the afternoon of the 1st. Then when we got back there was some very urgent sitting about to do, then I went back to work, and then it was this weekend. So starting the year with a tidy house had to wait, but has now more or less been achieved. we've cleared a massive backlog of laundry that had accumulated around the laundry bin, found the kitchen table under a pile of post and engine parts, taken down and stashed away Christmas in all its tinsely twinkly glory. Now we can see the vast majority of floors and surfaces in all rooms and in most places turn round without knocking anything over. It's like living in a different house and I love it.

In going through all the  laundry, and after a little wistful gazing through the window of Hobbs I decided that there was no point owning smart clothes and never wearing them. the rationale of saving them for something more special than everyday was revealed to me as folly. So I have imprecisely not quite resolved to dress for the job I want not the job I have. The first week back (though admittedly only three working days long) was a success. But we'll see, as I made a similar sort of vague determination last year and it fell by the wayside quite quickly because of my general conviction that performance is more important than appearance and my aching dislike of spending any time fussing with non essentials of a morning.

the third prong (it's only a four prong plan, so you're nearly there), has so far been a total wash out, and that was supposed to be to get back into the habit of going to the gym of a monday, wednesday and friday morning. Though in my defence the gym would have been clogged with other people desperately trying to be good. Next week many of them will already have given up, so it should be nice and quiet again 

The fourth and final prong is to be more creative and practical. We've just taken delivery of a wreck of a 1972 beetle which will require a heap of welding and other chicanery. so I shall learn to fix cars. And I've already nearly finished the cross stitch picture for my niece's birthday and am starting to think of something for my aunt. And I'm trying to sort out starting an ILEX post graduate diploma course to further my legal qualification in pursuit of my much spoken about but little pursued dream of working in human rights law.

What about you all? what do you want to do this year?